Star Trekkin Across the Universe!

September 28th, 1987 saw the debut of Star Trek – The Next Generation airing its first episode ever and launching a show that would last seven seasons and spawn two other TV shows and four feature films . . . but earlier that same summer was another Star Trek phenomonina . . . “Star Trekkin” by The Firm!

The Firm is a British music act, formed by guitarist, session musician and music producerJohn O’Connor, which had a handful of hits in the 1980s with novelty songs, the most notable being “Star Trekkin.” The song is based on catchphrases from the original 1960’s Star Trek TV series set to a catchy, childlike tune with an increasingly frantic arrangement. It was rejected by all the labels he approached with it, but believing it to be worth releasing, O’Connor pressed an initial 500 copies on his own label, Bark Music.

Despite the fact that Star Trek – The Next Generation was just around the corner, and that the movie franchise had released Star Trek V – The Voyage Home the year before, in 1980’s Britain the original Star Trek series seemed like “forever ago;” the kitschy song managed to spark a camp sense of nostalgia in the public and was a hit. The record, “Star Trekkin’“, spent two weeks at number one in the UK and a total of nine weeks in the UK Top 40, and reached No. 3 in Australia, with comparable success in Japan and Europe and worldwide sales of over a million copies.

Though it received substantial airplay on various radio stations throughout the U.S., the song did not chart on the BillboardHot 100. In the US, “Star Trekkin'” was released on the Dr. Demento albums Dr. Demento Presents the Greatest Novelty CD of All Time in 1988, Dr. Demento: 20th Anniversary Collection in 1991, and Dr. Demento: Hits From Outer Space in 2006.